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Universal Robina has started construction of a $35 million ethanol plant in the Philippines' Negros Oriental province. The plant, which will have the capacity to produce about 7.9 million gallons of ethanol annually, is due to enter service in March 2014.

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As Universal Robina prepares to open a 46-megawatt biomass plant in the Philippines province of Negros Occidental, the firm is also constructing a $35 million ethanol distillery plant. The plant will have a production capacity of about 8 million gallons of ethanol per year.

China-based Shanxi Jinhui Energy Group launched its venture into bioplastics production this month, a $35 million bio-based polybutylene adipate co-terephthalate factory. The factory reportedly has the biggest production capacity of PBAT in Asia and produces biomaterial capable of decomposing completely in a period of 180 days, breaking down into only carbon dioxide and water, said Janice Li, president of subsidiary Jinhui Zhaolong High Technology. She added that the company's PBAT materials have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food-contact use.

European refiners' incentive to use ethanol is dropping because of low prices for ethyl tert-butyl ether, sources said. Both additives are used by refiners to meet European requirements, and refiners say the price difference between the two makes the choice clear.

U.S. ethanol output averaged 853,000 barrels a day last week, up 2.5% from the previous week and the most in two weeks, according to the Energy Information Administration. Supplies of the biofuel rose 0.5% to 17.6 million barrels, the EIA said. The U.S. resumed importing ethanol after a lull that began March 29, taking in an average of 39,000 barrels per day last week, up from 11,000 barrels per day from the same period last year, the EIA said.

Illinois-based Broadwind Energy has secured $35 million in new wind turbine tower orders that the firm intends to fulfill at its factory in Manitowoc, Wis. "The level of activity in our wind tower business remains strong and this order moves us one step closer to filing our tower capacity for 2013," said Peter Duprey, president and CEO of Broadwind Energy.